My journey to zero balances

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

That's awesome.  What APR did you get on the loan and what will the monthly payment be on that?  It always helps having all the payments together instead of a bunch of different cards.

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Not great, 19.9 but its lower than most of my other APR's. The monthly payment is $880. Saves me about $300 a month plus it's worth it to pay a little more in interest with a known end date rather than 15 payments spread out everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for sharing your journey, this is really inspiring! I am looking forward to seeing your progress

[Anonymous]

Just closed my first card. The Best Buy RZ mastercard. The only card I have with an AF.

[redbeard]

Congrats on pulling this together.  

I did this in '08 and unfortunately, I'm doing it again, though this time, its not as bad.

The consolidation loan was a good idea and will make it more manageable.  A bit of breathing room is always a welcome relief.  Just make sure you put most of that aside back into savings, even before you continue your debt elimination journey.... of course, I'm assuming you have spent a good portion of savings already.  If you still have that, then you are awesome.

I would also concentrate on getting each card under 90% utlization.  You'll get your scores out of the penalty box.

I don't know if its possible to refi a lending club loan with a lending club loan, but if it is, in 6-12 months, you might want to see if you can get a better rate on the consolidation loan.  If you can get this down to 12%-14% range, it will pay off much faster given the same payment.

Dan

[joltdude]

He could revoke his AUs on his wifes accounts.... or most of them except one of the major cards.. But still pay them off (in addition to the consolidation loan)

Id work at just bringing the utilization down on all the wifes cards since they are pretty close on APR.. in this case I dont think just zeroing out a card at a time is the ideal way to go.... Id work on getting them all down to  80% or less...then go after them one at a time to zero them out.. By doing this, you might avoid a potential cascade of balance chasing and AA's.. 

Like this

1l Pay the minimums anf the loan first...

Then (in the same month), divide whats left to pay more than the minium on accounts over 80%

Then start paying off cards entirely with whats left..

Once your accounts are under 80% util (all of them)...

1.Pay the minimums and the loan first..

2. Consider divide up a percentage over the minimum on all the cards 

Then take whats left and go after paying off a card at a time...

-J

[Anonymous]

I got approved for 10k Barclay Ring today. So I'm going to consolidate some of my wife's debt onto it since it only has 8 percent interest. Some people will scold me for apping but the idea is to get ride of all the small cards and only keep like the top 6

[MarineVietVet]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I got approved for 10k Barclay Ring today. So I'm going to consolidate some of my wife's debt onto it since it only has 8 percent interest. Some people will scold me for apping but the idea is to get ride of all the small cards and only keep like the top 6

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Ignore them.

You have to do what you think is right for your situation.

[BT90138016]

Hey how is the journey coming along? You've inspired me to do the same to boost my scores and try to get qualified for better cards with better terms and better limits.

[joltdude]

Thats even a better idea... But realize even with the transfers.. i'd watch the UTILIZATION even on the Ring...

(Great card for a low APR *AND* BTs)

At some point you may want to consider seeing if you can get a better rate loan than the LC... mebby in 6 months..Also check what the prepayment penalties are on the LC loan... 

Did an amazing job parlaying the LC loan into being able to app for the Ring... and getting it... which has an even lower rate than the LC loan.. Just dont get yourself in the same bind you started with... To the sockdrawer and/or shredder some of these cards must go...

Heh even with my current score.. LC wont even look at me.. 

-J

[Anonymous]

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@joltdude wrote:

Thats even a better idea... But realize even with the transfers.. i'd watch the UTILIZATION even on the Ring...

(Great card for a low APR *AND* BTs)

At some point you may want to consider seeing if you can get a better rate loan than the LC... mebby in 6 months..Also check what the prepayment penalties are on the LC loan... 

Did an amazing job parlaying the LC loan into being able to app for the Ring... and getting it... which has an even lower rate than the LC loan.. Just dont get yourself in the same bind you started with... To the sockdrawer and/or shredder some of these cards must go...

Heh even with my current score.. LC wont even look at me.. 

-J

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There's no prepayment penalty on the LC loan. Once DW's cards are paid down, thats where all the extra money is going. The LC loan, even at 19%, is still lower than the rate on all her cards. I'm going to transfer her 4800 Chase balance to the Ring and then aggressively payoff the other three cards.